Discover Martinvelle: Church, Museum and the Huguenot Trail

Martinvelle offers several specific points of interest for a trip: the church with its historic monument status, the small 17th-century Saint-Roch Chapel, the Martinvelle-Jadis Museum and the Huguenot Trail. For planning purposes, it helps to distinguish between sightseeing and hiking. The church and museum have their own visiting conditions; the trail is a 10 km hike that starts and ends in Martinvelle. This lets you focus on architectural history, regional activities or outdoor exercise.

Church and religious buildings

The church in Martinvelle is partly Romanesque and includes a castle chapel. It is partly classified as a historic monument and partly listed as a historic monument; at the same time, it is fully protected. The information distinguishes between parts of the building and the structure as a whole: the Romanesque features, classification and listing concern parts, while the protection applies to the entire church. So the whole building is not described as Romanesque, although its protection covers the entire structure. For architecture enthusiasts, architectural form and monument status come together here.

The church can be visited individually by arrangement or as part of a guided tour by arrangement; please make the necessary arrangements in advance. The small 17th-century Saint-Roch Chapel is also in Martinvelle.

Martinvelle-Jadis and regional activities

Martinvelle-Jadis displays a collection of equipment and tools from earlier times. It documents industrial, craft, agricultural and rural activities on the Vosges plain. This brings a different aspect of regional history to the fore than the religious buildings: the focus is not on architectural styles, but on different areas of activity and the objects associated with them. The collection comprises more than 3,000 objects in an exhibition space of 500 m². The number of objects and the area provide two different points of reference for the scale of the exhibition.

The museum offers unguided visits as well as guided tours by arrangement. Unlike the church, a self-guided museum visit is also listed as an option; if you would like a guided tour, request one in advance.

Huguenot Trail

The Huguenot Trail is an easy 10 km hike that begins and ends in Martinvelle. The route follows the trail of Huguenots from Franche-Comté who fled to the part of Lorraine. The distance, difficulty level, and starting and finishing point give you specific details to help plan your hike.

The path runs through a forest where coat-of-arms boundary stones are still visible. They recall the 17th-century division between the Duchy of Lorraine and the Kingdom of France. The hike therefore brings together two different historical connections: the story of the Huguenots’ flight and the territorial division recalled by the stones. The boundary stones make the second connection visible in the landscape. Check the trail conditions before setting out.

Discover more destinations: Champdray, La Bresse, La Neuveville-devant-Lépanges, Ferdrupt, Contrexéville, Monthureux-Sur-Saône, Les Rouges-Eaux, Vagney

For the main travel overview: Vosges.